Is True Grit the Bipartisan Oscar Film You've Been Waiting For?

Whether or not True Grit is able to score loads of Oscar nominations on Tuesday morning remains to be seen, but perhaps the Coen Brothers smash hit remake has a higher calling: Political fence mending. "In our current winter of high domestic anxiety, as in the politically tumultuous American summer of 1969, [True Grit] is a hit with the national mass audience and elite critics alike," wrote columnist Frank Rich in the New York Times over the weekend. "The new version is doing as well in New York and Los Angeles as in red Cheneyland." If Barack Obama is reading this, he'd be wise to include a few Cogburn-isms in his State of the Union address. Just with better enunciation. [NYT]